Joanna Trollope, Tim Minchin and TV presenter Dan Snow were fighting off vertigo last night while 800ft above London, celebrating the launch of the Children’s Reading Fund at the top of the Shard.

Founded by the Booktrust charity, whose patron is the Duchess of Cornwall, the fund raises money for disadvantaged children. One of the fund’s ambassadors, poet Lemn Sissay, who grew up in care, pointed out that foster children have always been at the heart of our culture. “Batman, Harry Potter, Matilda, Superman, Pip in Great Expectations — they’re our heroes, yet we have such a disconnect between them and the real children in care homes.”

Despite leaving her lights burning, novelist Lionel Shriver, who lives right by the Shard, still couldn’t identify her house amid the panoramic view.

“Did you leave your lights on hoping you’d be able to spot it?” she was asked. “No,” Shriver replied. “I left them on ’cos I live in a kinda dodgy area and I’m hoping not to get burgled.”